We spend a lot of Monday to get our visas, (3000 P Franks p.p) and Alfred at the office let us off not having to take out a bond as well! For certain countries (South Africa included) you need to obtain the visa before coming to Tahiti.With the flowers in my hair and my South-African smile, he even checked us out, and to top that phoned the Fuel jetty at Marina Taina, to organize our duty free fuel! Running very low on fuel, after leaving Marquesas without being able to get fuel, this was a relief. At remote places like Marquesas, the info you get from the Internet or sailing guides inform you of the availability of fuel, and after you sailed twenty two days, you can land in quite a predicament. There was fuel, but only for the private vehicles of the island who ordered it in advance. We couldn`t get a jerry can filled! Luckily the wind was at our mercy, and we reached Tahiti safely. We don`t want to be stuck somewhere on the Blue in a storm without fuel to feed these two engines. The fuel gods smiled on us, because the duty free prices are good, even better than Tonga and New Zealand!
The water is a crisp blue, the clearest we`ve seen since we started sailing, and Joe has to dive down to try and fix our depth sounder. Still not working. I don`t know whether it is overgrown by these little creatures, but we can`t sail these waters with all the reefs. The rest of us will be scrubbing her belly while we wait to go to the fuel dock!
Ps. We will be leaving this afternoon, starting the journey to Tonga via the Cook Islands !.
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| Gardens @ the Papeete Waterfront |
We spend a lot of Monday to get our visas, (3000 P Franks p.p) and Alfred at the office let us off not having to take out a bond as well! For certain countries (South Africa included) you need to obtain the visa before coming to Tahiti.With the flowers in my hair and my South-African smile, he even checked us out, and to top that phoned the Fuel jetty at Marina Taina, to organize our duty free fuel! Running very low on fuel, after leaving Marquesas without being able to get fuel, this was a relief. At remote places like Marquesas, the info you get from the Internet or sailing guides inform you of the availability of fuel, and after you sailed twenty two days, you can land in quite a predicament. There was fuel, but only for the private vehicles of the island who ordered it in advance. We couldn`t get a jerry can filled! Luckily the wind was at our mercy, and we reached Tahiti safely. We don`t want to be stuck somewhere on the Blue in a storm without fuel to feed these two engines. The fuel gods smiled on us, because the duty free prices are good, even better than Tonga and New Zealand!
We left for Marina Taina, breathtaking beautiful. I am so glad they chose this bay for the fuel dock. We passed the airport and beautiful resorts on our way.
We radioed and are scheduled to fill up around 15h00 this afternoon. We took the bus into Papeete, because Joe wanted to buy a traditional Ukulele ghitar…which he found. It was his lucky day, because in the bus he shared a seat with the most beautiful blonde in Tahiti!
On our way back, not knowing the bus routes we chased the busses, to find a pick up corner. While running after a bus, panting we saw it taking off again, and we had to sit and wait for the next one. Two women saw us running in the street, and offered us a lift in their air conditioned car…thanks to angels all around us! We made the final stop at the big Carrefour, which is definitely cheaper than the one in town. I swopped a couple of books at the Marina, but this time I didn`t use their launderette, and we didn`t visit the swimming pool or the lovely restaurant and bar.
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| Tiana Marina |
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